Subject: Emissions trading system agreement and the aviation sector | outermost regions
The provisional agreement on the overhaul of the EU emissions trading system (ETS), which covers the aviation sector, does not exempt flights between the outermost regions (ORs) and the European Economic Area (EEA).
The Commission’s impact assessment report, SWD(2021) 603, states that including flights to and from the ORs in the ETS will affect air fares and flight frequency and restrict travel options for people living in the ORs who work, study, require healthcare and/or seek opportunities in the EEA. What is more, including such flights leaves the ORs at a disadvantage compared with tourist destinations outside the EU.
In view of this agreement, which goes against Parliament’s adopted position, can the Commission say:
1. Does it not think that this measure will encourage airlines to operate more flights with stopovers and fewer direct flights between the EEA and the ORs, thereby creating more emissions and going against the aim of this proposal?
2. Does it not believe that this measure would give airlines based in an OR’s Member State a competitive edge over other airlines, which would promote a hub-and-spoke model with connecting flights from hubs to the ORs?
3. Does it not think that this measure poses obstacles to OR residents’ freedom of movement within the EEA? Is this not differential treatment that creates two classes of citizens in the EU?
Submitted: 10.2.2023
Answer given by Executive Vice-President Timmermans on behalf of the European Commission (31 March 2023)
In December 2022, the European Parliament and the Council provisionally agreed on exempting from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) flights between an airport in a Member State’s outermost region and an airport in the same Member State, until 2030.
The ETS costs represent a small share of an airline’s operating costs. Airlines that currently operate direct flights between a Member State outermost region and another Member State are thus unlikely to switch to indirect flights to benefit from the temporary exemption for one segment of the journey.
The ETS applies in a non-discriminatory manner on a route-by-route basis. Airlines operating the same route to or from an outermost region benefit from equal treatment, regardless of whether the airline is based in the Member State of the outermost region or in another Member State.
The Commission is fully aware of the challenges faced by outermost regions due to their remoteness and intends to continue supporting these regions’ connectivity.
Most flights to and from outermost regions are flights within the same Member State. According to the provisional political agreement, these flights will continue being exempted from the ETS until 2030, whereas the derogation of flights between an airport of a Member State’s outermost region and an airport located in another Member State will stop applying.
However, these international flights constitute a minority of flights to or from outermost regions and the impact assessment underpinning the revision of the ETS shows that any possible increase of ticket costs of these international flights would remain moderate.
Besides, the Commission must establish a report on connectivity of islands and remote territories in 2026.